A response to an RTI query has revealed that more than 3400 branches of 26 public sector banks have been either closed or merged in the last 5 financial years under the consolidation plan now in progress in the banking space. Of these branches, nearly 75% belong to State Bank of India. The Reserve Bank of India, responding to the RTI query raised by a private citizen, said the 26 public sector banks either closed or merged 90 branches during FY 2014-15, 126 branches in 2015-16, 253 branches in 2016-17, 2,083 branches in 2017-18 and 875 branches during 2018-19. The RBI also said the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore were merged with State Bank of India with effect from 1 April 2017. Similarly, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank were merged with Bank of Baroda on 1 April 2019. Meanwhile, the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) general secretary C.H. Venkatachalam said some 7000 branches of these banks are to be affected if the government forms 4 big banks out of the 10 state-owned banks in the country.
